General Colour Management FAQ's
What temperature and Gamma should I use when profiling my monitor?
When you us a profiling system to calibrate and profile your monitor, all systems ask the same questions: What colour temperature and what Gamma.
Colour temperature is a measurement of 'whiteness' and is measured in a scale called degrees Kelvin, which is shown as a number followed by the letter K. At 2000K, we can see the dull red commonly referred to as 'red hot'. At about 3500K, the colour changes to an orange/yellow and once you reach about 5000K, the colour has turned to a more neutral white. The three most commonly occuring temperatures in colour management are 5000K, 6500K and 9300K.
9300K is often referred to as the temperature of an 'uncalibrated monitor'. 5000K is a reference to direct sunlight and 6500K is an overcast daylight setting. 6500K is 'white' than 5000K, so this is the usual point chosen for calibrating a monitor.
The Gamma is effectively a setting of the contrast of the monitor. Traditionally, Apple Mac users have a Gamma default of 1.8 and PC users, 2.2. However, the old 1.8 Gamma setting is more suitable to a black and white environment, and nowadays, nearly everyone uses the 2.2 setting.
Having said that, this is only a recommendation - there is no hard and fast rule, but generally, you should set your monitor settings to:
Temperature 6500K (or D65)
Gamma 2.2
Return to General Colour Management FAQ's
